Author: Pencil and imagination is all it takes to start writing

August 31, 2006|LAUREEN FAGAN Tribune Staff Writer

Young writers at LaSalle Elementary School in Mishawaka received some special attention last week, thanks to author-in-residence Cynthia Furlong Reynolds. Reynolds, of Dexter, Mich., will be spending much of this year working with students in School City of Mishawaka, said LaSalle principal Rhonda Myers. "To have an author-in-residence at LaSalle means that students get authentic messages from a real-life author," Myers said. "The message is that you don't have to sell a million copies to be a writer." All it takes, Myers added, is a pencil and imagination. Furlong Reynolds spent a lot of time talking about imagination with the students. "Imagination," said 9-year-old Alexis VandeWalle, "is something you can believe in. And you can imagine anything you want." The fourth-grader was answering a question about one component found in what Furlong Reynolds calls the writer's toolbox. "The tools that are important are the ones we're born with," she told the class, all students of Mary Beth Rosheck's fourth grade. She compared the writing process to creating a s'mores treat around the campfire, where the chocolate represents the main idea, with marshmallows added and a cookie, too. Using the popular Harry Potter series as a point of reference, Furlong Reynolds described elements in writing. "The chocolate is the main idea," she said. "The main idea is good versus evil." Writers, she said, write about two things: what they know, and what makes them curious about the world. Furlong Reynolds walked students through an exercise involving a story about a day spent indoors at home. "It's a rainy day and the wind is whirling around outside," she said, describing a scene for her young writers. "What would you do?" Sophie Tobolski, 9, was quick to answer her. "Sleep," she answered. And that was the starting point for these LaSalle students, offering them a place to think about books or games. Adding the marshmallows to flesh out a story. And adding more writing tools for the toolboxes the students will be using for the rest of their lives.